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Posted by John Reid on 6 Apr 2012 7:22 AM
Butterfield 8 (1960)
Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Jeffrey Lynn.
Which is the Orginal Australian Daybill?
Firstly, these are two entirely different posters. The poster on the left was printed by Robert Burton Printers and the poster on the right by A & C Printers.
Let's take the A & C printed daybill first. To the best of my knowledge, A & C printers did not print anything after 1960 so this is certainly an original daybill. This poster was clearly used in New Zealand but it should be noted that the censor stamp was added later in New Zealand and not part of the original printing. Generally New Zealand used original Australian, US and British posters in their original form and they added their own censorship to the posters after they had arrived in New Zealand. This often led to mutilation of posters with areas blacked out and NZ details roughly stamped in place or stickers added or both. You can see more about this in my guide about NZ censor details.
The vast majority of daybills were printed in Australia. On some occasions, Australian posters were printed without the Australian censor details, generally with exactly the same art as the original release, but used in the "territories". The NZ distributors would then add a stamp or a sticker. Note that the second poster, printed by Robert Burton, has SUITABLE ONLY FOR ADULTS printed in the lower portion.
The poster printed by A and C printers does not have these Australian censor details but has a blue box in the lower section which, to me, indicates that this poster had the Australian details blocked out. I believe that the original daybill used in Australia was exactly the same but had the Australian censor details intact instead of the blue box (more about that later).
Some have said that the A and C printers poster "lacks a plate" with little detail in Elizabeth Taylor's negligee but I dont think this is the case. Remember, these are two different posters. Although similar, there are clear differences eg the mink coat, etc etc. In my opinion, this poster was printed as intended but is simply one of the poorer examples of Australian movie posters.
In any case there is no doubt that this is original.
Now, to the second daybill printed by Robert Burton. When I first came across one of these I had no reason to doubt that it was not orignal but I received several emails from a well known and respected collector who suggested that the poster was, in fact, a 1960s reissue. A daybill for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof was also released, apparently, at the same time with similar art and colouring. The collector emailed me photos of what he described as the original daybills for these titles. The Butterfield 8 daybill was the same as the A and C printed poster that Bruce has currently on auction but had the words SUITABLE FOR ADULTS ONLY instead of the blue box.
The second daybill is printed by Robert Burton who started printing movie posters around 1960 so that does not really help. Daybills are generally undated so no clue there. The only definitive proof might be a pressbook but I havent seen any for this title. I have seen similar daybills that were reissued around this time in full colour. One that comes to mind is North By Northwest, although there is even some doubt/dispute about this. I can give you my opinions on this as well if anyone is interested. Over the years, I tended to take the word of the collector who suggested that the second poster was a 1966 reissue although I never really had any absolute proof positive that this was the case. I have always sold the second poster as a reissue - maybe way too cheap!
I wonder if anyone out there has any definitive information, or any opinion at all, on
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Posted by John Reid on 31 Mar 2012 8:34 PM
Where a full colour daybill is known to exist, many dealers and collectors have often routinely made the assumption that one or two colour daybills for the same title must be resissues.
It is certainly true that there are many examples of one or two colour daybills that are indeed reissues but there is usually some evidence to indicate this ie printers details, censorship logos, etc.
The fact is that there are many cases where a one colour version of a poster was produced in addition to the full colour version for the original release. Unfortunately, there is not much "evidence" in the form of pressbooks and general information about the origins of Australian posters. Pronouncements about the origins of Australian daybills are often based on anecdotal information or best guesses.
One example of a poster that has been assumed as being a 40s or even 50s reissue is the White Cargo one colour daybill. The film was released in 1942 and starred Hedy Lamarr and Walter Pidgeon - "I am Tondelayo!". A full colour daybill was produced so many dealers have just assumed that the one colour daybill must be a reissue.
Have a good look at the two posters side by side and read on below for the reasons why they were almost certainly both produced for the original release of the film.
It is quite obvious that the same artwork/plates were used for the two posters with the exception that the poster on the right is just a one colour version. Censor details are the same. Both posters were printed by Marchant. Marchant & Co Offset printers Sydney printed posters up until about 1942. That would indicate that the two posters were most likely printed for the original release of the film.
We do know that cinemas were charged a fee for posters. I actually have old copies of invoices that were sent to cinemas with details of how much they were charged for each poster. It is possible that the one colour version was printed as a cheaper alternative to the full colour version but we can only really make an educated guess about this.
There are many similar examples. There are also one colour daybills that exist in the absence of any known full colour daybills.
So, just if you come across a one colour Australian daybill don't automatically assume it is a reissue.
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Posted by John Reid on 25 Aug 2011 8:46 AM
It is inevitable that, occasionally, movie posters are unknowingly misrepresented by dealers and eBay sellers. No one is immune from making mistakes in this business. In many cases it is understandable that sellers use their “best educated guess” to determine the origins of a poster.
There are various ways to verify whether Australian posters are original and many of the tips are in my detailed guides. Pressbooks can help when available and printers details are also a good indication. There are some dealers and collectors who have acquired a great deal of knowledge over the years. Many of them have also had some fringe dealings with distributors and they have picked up anecdotal evidence of how posters were printed but the knowledge is often not documented so that makes it very difficult for other sellers.
One daybill that has been turned up quite often is “That Night in Rio” (1941) which featured Carmen Miranda, Alice Faye and Don Ameche. Although it appears that some may have been aware that this poster is not original nothing definitive has been documented so here is the story .....
The original daybill is as scarce as hen’s teeth and rarely if ever seen. Prior to 1941 the format of daybills was 15” x 40” referred to as the “long daybill” but there are some titles from 1941 where original daybills were printed as long daybills and others in the 13” x 30” format. It is not known exactly when the transition occurred in 1941.
However, a reprinted version of That Night in Rio turns up with monotonous regularity variously described as “original” or “40s release” or “50s reissue” or other similar descriptions. Usually the dealer or eBay seller is just guessing although it the poster certainly looks as though it might have been a 50s release.
There have been a number of people in Australia who have been collecting posters for decades, long before there was any documented interest in the hobby. Some of them were involved in the Cinema in various occupations and they had an absolute passion for the movies and saved anything they could on their favourite films. They usually attached no monetary value to their collections. They were just happy to have the original images. Some of them would actually cut the borders off the posters and paste the images onto scrapbooks.
One such collector is a huge fan of Carmen Miranda. He was fascinated as a boy by the costumes and lavish productions that she appeared in. He worked in the industry for many years and collected anything he could get on the actress including press clippings, posters and magazine articles. He also collected material from other movies and said that his life has been enriched by his passion for film and he is fortunate to be able to live a long life doing what he loves.
The story goes that although the collector had an extensive collection of Carmen Miranda memorabilia, one poster eluded him – a Style “B” Australian daybill for That Night in Rio that featured a specific image of the great lady. He had heard that such a poster existed but had never seen it despite the fact that he had scoured many old cinemas and tried all of his industry contacts without success.
Another collector who had media and industry connections was aware of the quest for the elusive That Night in Rio daybill. Through a series of incidents that have a touch of the mystical about them, the poster finally turned up and he immediately contacted the collector who boarded the first plane to Melbourne to pick it up.
The Collector was absolutely thrilled to finally have the daybill. The poster was printed by Marchant in 1941. Marchant used a photo litho technique to produce superb quality images. Unfortunately they only printed posters for a couple of years in the very early 1940s.
All of this happened around 1979/80. The collector was so happy with the image on the daybill that he decided to get some copies made. As he had worked in the industry he had connections with distributors and printers. He was able to contact one of the printers of daybills at the time and asked them if they could produce a replica poster of That Night in Rio.
The printer was happy to do that based on the fact that the collector was “in house”. The collector asked for 50 copies and the printer said he could produce 400 copies for not much more than the cost of 50 so the collector agreed on that. The printer was apparently very concerned that the original daybill had the “Marchant” printer’s details at the bottom of the poster. They said that they needed to remove any reference to the original printers name and the collector had no problem with that.
You need to understand the motivation of the collector in having these posters printed. I believe that he was so happy to find the original image that he had been searching for over the years that he wanted to get copies printed so that he could circulate them for others to see and appreciate. I very much doubt that he ever made any money out of them. He gave them to other collectors and dealers and even donated many to a museum and he was thrilled just to be able to share his passion with others.
Of course, the posters have been appearing on the internet on a regular basis. People who were given the posters ended up selling or trading them and they still turn up misdescribed. The lack of printer’s details should be a clue but I can understand dealers thinking they are original or re-release posters.
In case you are wondering, he never reproduced any other posters apart from when he occasionally cut up images from posters and pasted them together to make a collage poster. Although he has a great love of movies his true passion is for Carmen Miranda. The poster that he had reproduced has some variances from the original. The “blue” colours from the original appear “purple” on the reprint and, of course, the printer’s name does not appear on the reprint.
That's the story - straight from the horse's mouth!
© John Reid 2011
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Posted by John Reid on 17 Mar 2010 9:32 AM
Heritage Auctions currently has a very rare Australian Daybill for the Universal Horror Film Mark of the Vampire currently up for auction.
It will be very interesting to see how much this sells for as posters for this title are incredible scarce.
I am guessing this will become the highest selling Australian poster at an auction.
The story of how the poster surfaced is interesting. It was actually listed a few months ago on eBay along with two other long daybills as a lot. The bidding reached approx $450.00 with a couple of days to go and suddenly the seller ended the auction. It seems fairly obvious that someone made him an offer outside eBay and he accepted it. The possibility is that the seller was unaware of the rarity of the poster and it is more than likely that he undersold it.
I know of a number of people who were well aware of the rarity of the poster and who had intended to bid on it had the ebay auction been allowed to run its course. I have no doubts that it would have achieved a very high price if the seller had just let it go to the highest bidder.
The poster turned up at Heritage a couple of months later and was restored and listed in the current signature auction. The information I have is that the consignor of the poster is not from Australia so I have to wonder how much he or she offered the eBay seller to end the auction. I have no doubts that many others would have quickly emailed the seller when the auction ended pointing out the potential value of the poster or making other offers so you would think that the seller might have been able to change his or her mind after the original offer was made.
No doubt the original owner of the poster will be disappointed in the decision that they made. I think that there is a very real possibility that the poster would have achieved very close if not more than it goes for in the Heritage auction. |
Posted by John Reid on 2 Oct 2008 7:00 AM
The Mystery Package
Each Month I will be offering a Mystery Package of Original Movie Posters. The package will comprise of posters that usually sell for significantly more than the asking price.
I will not be divulging what the package consists of but I can say that those who have purchased the package in the past have been absolutely thrilled with what they have received.
Condition of the posters will vary from fair - good - mint, some will have pinholes or fairly minor defects such as small edge tears or light stains, others will be pristine.
The package can comprise of anthing from older titles to 90s posters. All I can say is that whoever purchases the package should be extremely happy with what they receive.
The packages that I am offering will be on a First Come First Served monthly basis. The first two packages sold almost as quickly as I listed them but I will be listing another one soon. This is an opportunity to pick up something a real bargain. Dont miss out!
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Posted by John Reid on 13 Jul 2008 3:35 PM
Universal Horror Movie posters and Lobby cards from the 30s and 40s seem to be the most highly valued for collectors of original movie posters. The major auction houses have turned up some wonderful posters over the years and every major auction seems to include significant posters from the Universal era. In recent times we have seen US posters and lobby cards on:
Dracula
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Invisible Man
etc etc
Despite the fact that they are obviously very rare and the prices are high, you can at least find some
US
paper on some of the key Universal titles. One example is a set of Frankenstein lobby cards that has been offered recently for a million dollars. Although the price may be a little "tongue in cheek", at least this shows that the material is out there if you have the money.
I have been a dealer for many years now and have had some highly significant collections of Australian movie posters pass through my hands. I consigned one collection to Christies in 1998 and it included Australian posters for titles like Ghost of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. It turns out that these two are just about the only Universal Horror daybills of any significance that I have come across.
I understand that one dealer sold a daybill for Frankenstein about 15 years ago, supposedly for $25,000.00 but I have never heard of anything on Dracula ever appearing.
Have you seen or heard of any Univeral Horror Australian posters?
I would be interested to hear if anything significant exists, apart from the Frankenstein daybill.
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Posted by John Reid on 21 Jan 2008 6:16 AM
A record of the highest prices paid for Australian movie posters should realistically be divided into two lists. The first would include the published prices at auctions using records from Christies, Heritage, Bruce Hershenson and a recent sale on eBay.
The second is probably impossible to compile but would probably dwarf the published prices. This list would have to include a record of private sales and would probably be a surprise to many people.
The story goes that a Frankenstein daybill was sold for $20,000 - $30,000.00 plus many years ago and there have been a few other significant prices for classic Australian daybills that can never really be confirmed. I have sold a few in the past that would make the list but the sales have been private so the prices should not be disclosed.
Here is a list of the published Top Ten highest prices paid for Australian posters. Let me know if you know of any that should be added but they must be documented.
1. MAD LOVE (MGM, 1935). Australian One Sheet (27" X 40"). Director Karl Freund Stars: Peter Lorre Sold For: $10,925.00 Jul 15, 2005 Heritage Auctions
1. CASABLANCA (Warner Brothers, 1942). Australian One Sheet (27" X 40"). Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre Sold For: $10,925.00 Mar 17, 2006 Heritage Auctions
3. Mark of the Vampire (MGM, 1935).
Australian Pre-War Daybill (15" X 40") Heritage Auctions $10,157.00 Mar 18 2010
4. MALTESE FALCON, The (Warner Brothers, 1941) Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre. Australian Daybill (13" X 30"). An original release 1940's poster (Total: 1 Items) Sold For: $8,625.00 Mar 17, 2006 Heritage Auctions
5. THINGS TO COME (United Artists, 1936). Pre-War Australian Daybill (15" X 39.5").... (Total: 1 Item) Sold For: $8,365.00 Mar 11, 2008 Heritage Auctions
6. JAZZ SINGER 1927 Al Jolson Aust daybill – linen Bruce Hershenson G-VG $8,050.00 06/24/2000
7. THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939) Judy Garland Sold For: $7,475.00 Nov 20, 2003 Heritage Auctions
8. GONE WITH THE WIND 1939 Rare Long Daybill Movie Poster Sold for: $6500.00 Linen Backed Item Number 370342126709 Feb 20th 2011
9. THE BIG TRAIL (1930) John Wayne Australian Daybill eBay Item number: 330298966218 $5000.00 Jan 15 2009-01-21
10. GONE WITH THE WIND (MGM, 1939). Clark Gable Vivien Leigh Australian Daybill (15" X 40").... (Total: 1 Item) Sold For: US$4,780.00 Nov 7, 2008 Heritage Auctions
11. ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Warner Brothers, 1938) Errol Flynn Sold For: $4,743.75 Mar 18, 2005 Heritage Auctions
12. CASABLANCA (Warner Brothers, 1942). Australian Daybill (13.5" X 30") Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre (Total: 1 Item) Sold For: $4,481.25 Jul 21, 2007 Heritage Auctions |
Posted by John Reid on 18 Sep 2007 7:28 AM
Repro Hammer Quads
Hammer has announced the release of a series of repro British quads posters from some of their classic Horror films from the 50s to the 70s. Titles include Curse of Frankenstein, Countess Dracula, Vampire Circus and culminating with the release of Dracula in 2008 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the film.
Now that all sounds fine but there has been considerable discussion and concern on some of the forums and various other sites about the fact that the posters will be almost exact replicas to the originals with little or no identifying marks on the front of the posters.
Part of the publicity for these posters states:
"Each title in the series has been scanned from an original poster at a very high resolution. They are then digitally restored. All the creases and fold marks are removed along with any pin holes, tears, dirty marks, etc.."
I would have thought that the sensible approach would have been to include some identifying mark on the front of the poster which would clearly indicate that it was a repro without detracting from the image. Perhaps they could have included the date, or a notation that the poster was an officially authorised Hammer reproduction. Apparently, they may have a stamp on the back but no mark at all on the front.
Collectors would be well aware that many hundreds of reproduction posters have been sold on internet auctions as original. Many are deliberate attempts to deceive whilst others are simply an example of a lack of knowledge from the seller. One striking example has been various Portal reproduction posters that were printed about 30 years ago. Although these are not the size of the standard movie posters, they still get misprepresented on a regular basis, despite the fact that many have the name "Portal" on the base of the poster and sometimes the zip code.
The Portal posters are often described in terms such as...
"this is a very old poster that was recently found in my grandfathers attic. He has had the poster for many years and, although it is showing some signs of age, it displays remarkably well. Although I am not a poster dealer, I have been told that this is a very rare original piece etc etc, blah, blah"
Many dealers over the years have cringed as they see these repros sell for huge prices to unsuspecting buyers.
Well now, Hammer will be producing replica British Quads. I wonder how many will eventually turn up on eBay or other sites represented as originals. Unscrupulous sellers might fold them, and perhaps remove the stamp from the back, throw in a few pinholes and add some writing on the back to make them look original. They could also linen back them and, although I havent actually touched the repros, I imagine that it might be difficult to tell the difference between the repros and the originals once they have been backed. Goodness knows, they might even start turning up at major auctions.
I suppose Hammer have the right to do what they like when producing these quads but surely they could have added a date to the poster without detracting from the quality.
Let me know what you think.
Regards
John |
Posted by John Reid on 31 Aug 2007 6:05 AM
I have been sorting through my inventory of Movie Posters and have found a number of rare Country of Origin daybills and one sheets for Australian Films. I will be adding more to the site regularly when I get the time but the category on Australian Film posters will soon contain a large collection of posters from the best of Australian cinema. One thing that has struck me as I have gone through the collection is that a number of posters from the 70s and 80s feature quite impressive artwork that does not rely on photgraphic images. Some examples include
plus a truly exceptional one sheet for the cult Motorcycle/Biker classic Stone
Not much is known about the artists on many of these posters. If you do have any information on them please let me know.
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Posted by John Reid on 2 Aug 2007 3:55 PM
Occasionally TV shows from the 50s would be shown in cinemas in Australia as either compilations or shorts prior to the main feature. Movie posters for these series are virtually unheard of but I recently discovered a number of posters that were printed exclusively in Australia for episodes from various Television series. I have found posters for the British TV series "Scales of Justice" plus some more for "20th Century Fox presents" TV show and posters for the very popular 50s TV show "My Friend Flicka". I doubt that posters for these TV shows would exist in any other country.
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